ABSTRACT
The soprano Sigune von Osten worked with Olivier Messiaen during his final years from 1987 until one of his last concerts at the Bruckner Festival in Linz, Austria, in November 1991. She performed Harawi and the orchestral version of Poemes pour Mi in Prague, Bratislava, Metz, Madrid and Linz with Messiaen and his wife, Yvonne Loriod, and additional performances had been planned before the composer's death. In 1987, Sigune von Osten worked with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod on Harawi for the first time and gave her first concert with them on 7 December 1987 in the Philharmonia, Bratislava, accompanied by Yvonne Loriod at the piano. This chapter focuses on these recordings. All quotations are taken from the cassettes during the rehearsals on 5 and 6 December 1987 in Smetana Hall, Prague, and digitalized at the request of Sigune von Osten in 2007 by sound master Joachim Hutteroth, Hergersweiler, Germany.
